Parsifal

30 April 2014

The first outing is on 25 August 2014 (Bank Holiday Monday). Klaus Florian Vogt makes a rare UK appearance to sing extracts from Parsifal and Lohengrin, and there's Elgar's Second Symphony to follow. Tickets are on sale now.

We don't get the full 306-minute Grail Magic until Sunday 17 May 2015, when Burkhard Fritz (or "Fritz Burkhard" as the CBSO site puts it) takes the title role. The remainder of an outstanding cast includes Georg Zeppenfeld, James Rutherford, and Mihoko Fujimura. Public booking opens on 27 May.

For those who wish to weep a little tear over Andris's departure for Boston, he's conducting two farewell concerts, on 17 and 18 June 2015. They feature a new work from his fellow-Latvian Eriks Ešenvalds together with Mahler's Third Symphony.

19 March 2013

I'm not sure which is scarier - the short guy with the weapon or Johan Botha's pulling outfit.

The pictures were taken at the dress rehearsal for Michael Schulz's new Parsifal, which opens the Salzburg Easter Festival on Saturday 23 March with Christian Thielemann conducting. I'll be there for the second and final show, auspiciously scheduled for 1 April.

13 March 2013

If you'd like to see Jonas Kaufmann, Rene Pape, Peter Mattei et al in a full length recording of a certain New York opera house's certain Wagner opera, read on. As ever, the source material may disappear quickly, so you may wish to preserve it: